Aware that I was about to review this recording in blu-ray audio, I
deliberately avoided reading the two reviews of the CD version which had
already appeared on MusicWeb International. However, I remembered from
listening to a download-only release that I reviewed in a Download News (
2012/20 – incidentally I misquoted the catalogue number: it’s
8.570316) that Peter Breiner’s orchestration throws in just about everything
except the kitchen sink, deploying 104 players in all. This, even more than
the familiar Ravel orchestration and the less familiar Stokowski, makes it
the antithesis of the piano original, a new recording of which has recently
appeared from Steven Osborne on Hyperion (CDA67896).
I’m not a great fan of that piano original, though Geoffrey Molyneux has
written about the Hyperion recording in Download News 2014/2 in such a way
that I plan to listen to it. It was the mono OSR/Ansermet LP of the Ravel
orchestration, (Decca Ace of Clubs ACL48, with Ravel La Valse) that
introduced me to Pictures from an Exhibition. From long acquaintance – it’s
a work that I like to wallow in whenever I hear it – that was the version in
the back of my mind when listening to Peter Breiner’s new arrangement,
especially as I also enjoyed hearing Ansermet’s more accurate but slightly
less unbuttoned stereo remake not too long ago (Decca Eloquence 4800047 –
review).
I had already refreshed my memory of the Breiner recording by listening to
the low-bit streamed version from Naxos Music Library before the
high-quality version arrived in a batch of blu-ray audio discs. Even in that
lowish-fi format the sound is pretty impressive. Some of the differences
between the Ravel and Breiner orchestrations are apparent, even in the
opening Promenade. I like this more now than on first acquaintance when I
thought it too slow The concluding Great Gate of Kiev especially benefits
from the Breiner treatment and blu-ray sound. It’s a blockbuster in any
version and a great disappointment when you discover that the gate itself
exists only as a painting and was never built.
Incidentally, though I find the Naxos Music Library a very effective way
of previewing recordings that I want to listen to, I do wish that they would
produce a way of streaming the music without gaps between tracks. Other
players, even the free Windows Music Player, now avoid that problem, yet
even Naxos’s new player still breaks up operas and other music such as
Pictures which is continuous across tracks.
The extra bite which Breiner achieves in Gnomus, complete with glissandi
which ‘improve’ on the piano original, really puts his version on course to
vie with the Ravel. At this point I’d better come clean and quote the Naxos
booklet, quoting me from 2012, to the effect that this new recording
challenges the Ravel orchestration more effectively than any version except
the Stokowski which I heard on a Proms broadcast c.1966; it impresses
without ever going over the top. I confidently predicted the release of the
album as a regular CD and even a follow-up on blu-ray.
Having nailed my colours to the mast on the orchestration and performance
– and I see that Paul Corfield Godfrey and John Whitmore are more or less of
like mind – I must ask the $64,000 question whether it’s worth paying more
for the 24/96 version, either from ecclassical.com, as reviewed in 2012, or
on the new blu-ray release. Typically the CD costs around £6 in the UK, the
16-bit lossless download from
classicsonline.com £5.49, and the blu-ray audio around £10, while the
eclassical.com 24/96
download costs $25.78 (around £15.80 at current exchange rates). Very
worthwhile as the latter was when it was the only 24-bit show in town, it
has to seem uncompetitive now except for those whose shelves are already
groaning with too many physical discs, especially as blu-ray discs take up
twice as much space as CDs.
As between the 24-bit download and the blu-ray played in stereo, there’s
very little to choose. I can’t make a direct comparison because I play
24-bit downloads in the study and can transfer them only via USB stick in
16-bit sound to the system in the lounge to which my blu-ray/SACD player is
linked but the two systems are broadly comparable, with Monitor Audio
floor-standing speakers delivering the music in both cases.
In both formats the recording is excellent, with detailed stereo placement
yet a broad sound-stage with no holes in the middle. These Pictures will
knock your socks off, but the more economical scoring of the other two works
is equally effective and they make generous fillers. Don’t be tempted to
turn the volume up too high in the quieter passages; there’s a wide dynamic
range on these recordings.
If your blu-ray player is linked only to your TV set you won’t benefit
from the BD-A sound quality. For that you need to have the player hooked
into your audio system – in my case I have the more expensive blu-ray/SACD
player, Cambridge Audio 650BD (replaced by the 651BD) connected in that way,
with a less expensive but still very satisfactory Sony player linked to the
TV. Don’t worry about not having your TV screen to guide you – if your
player doesn’t automatically recognise the disc, simply follow the advice on
the Naxos box and press red for surround sound or green for stereo.
Pictures from an Exhibition – surely that’s the correct title, not
Pictures at an Exhibition, as Naxos and others have it* – is music that’s
tailor-made for the highest-fi currently available. Even the mono Ansermet
made my cartridge jump a groove until I bought a decent Garrard turntable
and arm. The stereo remake, hailed in its time, also still sounds impressive
on Eloquence, but I can’t help thinking that Breiner’s orchestration was
made at least partly with modern 24-bit recording in mind. Of the five Naxos
blu-rays which I have recently received for review, this benefits most from
the BD-A format. Don’t run away with the idea that it’s the equivalent of
those showy demonstration discs of the early stereo era, but I certainly
recommend it in that form. Unless you have already purchased the CD or the
eclassical.com download you should give serious consideration to paying that
little extra for blu-ray.
* Hyperion get the title right on that Osborne recording.
Brian Wilson
Previous reviews (CD):
Paul Corfield Godfrey and
John Whitmore
Masterwork Index:
Pictures from an exhibition
